13 Secrets Reality TV Show Producers Won’t Tell You

Want to know how to get on a reality TV show, and what to expect if you make it? Get ready to be disillusioned.

The quickest way to judge the budget of a show? Location

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If they’re shooting outside in parks and on the street, they pretty much have no budget. To save money, I’ve shot things at my own house before.

You’re seeing only a sliver of the action on that 42-minute episode you just watched.

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The Biggest Loser, for example, has 11 cameras running eight hours a day. That’s 88 hours of footage a day, seven days a week. So we end up with 616 hours of video for just one week’s episode, which allows us to create the story line we want. Don’t miss these secrets reality TV chefs won’t tell you.

Sources: Pascual Romero, a former reality-TV producer; Rob Cesternino, a two-time Survivor contestant who runs robhasawebsite.com; Chantal Devane, an interior designer in the Minneapolis area who worked on a reality TV episode; a reality show assistant director; and a reality show producer